What The Hell!
by CdnJAGScribe
Summary: Harm, Mac, Meg, Animal, Lia and others have to figure out how to repel an invasion that they had never foreseen in their wildest imaginations and will it take a Jedi and their arcane arts to give Terrans a fighting chance of survival. Animal/Lia; Harm/Meg, Mac/Mic and Luke/Mara.
1. Chapter 1

"What The Hell?"

Author: CdnJAGScribe

E-mail: cdnjagscribe

Rating: M

Classification: SW/JAG crossover

Spoilers:

Summary: Harm, Mac, Meg, Animal, Lia and others have to figure out how to repel an invasion that they had never foreseen in their wildest imaginations and will it take a Jedi and their arcane arts to give Terrans a fighting chance of survival. Animal/Lia; Harm/Meg, Mac/Mic and Luke/Mara.

DISCLAIMER: The characters Harm Rabb, Jr., Sarah "Mac" Mackenzie, Meg Austin, AJ Chegwidden, Bud Roberts, Harriet Sims-Roberts et al. belong (in concept if not name) to CBS/Bellisarius. Star Wars characters belong to Disney and are the brainchild of George Lucas with the exception of Mara Jade who is the brainchild of the great Timothy Zahn. Animal and all OC characters are the property of Heather and Hugo Chikamori. No profit is being made from this story, nor is any infringement intended.

Author's Note: I never particularly like to utilize cross-overs as two different shows and timelines never seem to mesh well. However…having seen several SW fics that seem to be written well enough. I'm still trying to reconcile a "long time ago in a galaxy far far away with it matching up to current time Earth. But if you can put all logic aside, well…here goes.

* * *

 _ **Star Destroyer Dominance, somewhere outside the Sol System, interstellar space**_

"Admiral, our sensors are picking up a deep-space probe, sir." One of the techs at his station hailed Admiral Drevan Kell. "It doesn't appear to be a Rebel probe."

"New life, is it? Ensign Vret?" The admiral inclined his head over the walkway of the Star Destroyer bridge. "What have you got for me?"

"I don't know, sir."

The admiral raised an eyebrow, "Then I suggest that you find out where it has originated from."

"But sir, if it has a self-destruct?"

"This solar system isn't advanced enough for this but put it in a containment force field for now." The admiral replied resolutely. The Emperor had given him orders to search the Unknown Regions of space and he was going to do so. If not he would be replaced by the Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader himself and that was something that he didn't intend to happen.

The ensign nodded and the lieutenant beside him yelled. "Lock tractor beam on the probe! Now!"

The Star Destroyer emitted a blue beam of light that enfolded the probe in its glow and dragged it towards the yawning open bay of the Star Destroyer. "Sir, we've retrieved the probe, sir and it appears to be rather primitive, sir."

"Well, we can certainly find out exactly who sent out this probe. Yet another world to claim for the glory of the Empire." Admiral Kell declared with finality.

 _ **National Aeronautics and Space Administration; Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California, 0830hrs**_

"Jay, we've got a problem here. The signal from Voyager's been cut." Lorne Mellick stood up and waved Jay Reynolds over to the monitor. "I've got nothing here. The signal was clear one minute, gone the next." The two physicists exchanged looks of worry.

"Do you think that it could have collided with a stray asteroid?" Jay asked

Lorne shook his head. "There would have been transient signals picked up that would appear to be like static before the signal cutout. It almost seemed as though someone reached in and turned it off."

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Jay asked as he fastened a gimlet stare at his colleague.

"The Tsoukalos Theorem?" Lorne answered. "When all explainable theories have been debunked..."

"It's gotta be ALIENS!" They both finished, their faces paling.

"Shit, we gotta notify someone." Lorne said.

 _ **The Pentagon, Washington DC. 0855 hrs.**_

Admiral Toshio "Animal" Nakamura's day was starting off absolutely crap. Budget cuts by the President of the United States; sequestration, more base closures. Twenty two trillion in national debt and climbing but that debt was the President's problem; not his. Nakamura's job as the CNO and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs was to ensure that the United States had the best military force in the world and that involved a lot of lobbying for more equipment. His Chief of Staff was someone he'd plucked from right under the Judge Advocate General's nose about ten years earlier as a budding Rear Admiral and had groomed him into the three star that he was now. Vice-Admiral Harmon Rabb Jr. ran Animal's office like a well-oiled machine. Vice-Admiral Meg Austin-Rabb took over as the Chief of Naval Intelligence and that office kept Animal well-informed as to what foreign countries were doing that could affect his Navy and how they fought their battles. She was always present to brief the JCS on all matters and today was no different.

That was until a frantic Captain rushed into the JCS meeting and promptly blew all their well-honed plans to hell with a simple "NASA lost contact with Voyager 1". That was a worst case scenario.

Everything from propulsion malfunction to asteroid hit was argued back and forth before communications with JPL was established and the reality began to sink in. _Something was out there_ and that something did not appear to be friendly if it grabbed up their space probe. Animal slammed the gavel down hard enough on the table surface to leave a deep indentation on the table top making everyone in the room jump about a foot out of their chairs and waited resolutely for the faces of those still chattering like magpies to be silent and turn to look at him.

"I move to inform the President." Animal's taciturn voice echoed through the now silent room. Silent nods essayed around the table. "It could potentially be something big." He paused for a moment silently gauging the reaction of his Joint Chiefs. "...and I have no doubt that it will change the course of history."

Marine General and Commandant of the Marine Corps Edward S. Butler nodded than gravelly-voiced a comment. "If it's what the JCS doesn't want to admit...could be imminent, how exactly are we supposed to defend against this menace? It's definitely going to be worse than fighting the Russians." Animal didn't bother telling him what he thought about the situation; his mind already had jumped to _worst-case scenario._.

"I do not want a panic situation." Animal replied as he looked over at the rest of the Joint Chiefs as well as the Joint Staff; "Until such time as the President is informed and moves to broadcast the news to a national audience, I want this to be considered in the highest possible classification. Nothing leaves this room until the President himself decides that he is going to make this news public. Am I understood?" the threat was unspoken but clear.

"Yes sir!" The generals and admirals around the table nodded as well as those three stars and staff members present at the meeting.

When the meeting broke up about five minutes later, he notified his staff, VADM Harmon Rabb Jr. via cellular phone to meet him at the limousine which was to head directly to the White House to notify the President of the United States. "Vice-Admiral Rabb…" Upon hanging up he then turned to VADM Meg Austin-Rabb, Chief of Naval Intelligence, to follow him. "Meg, I want you to notify the President as to what information has been gathered on this and I want NASA on the phone. I have a feeling that this is going to get very ugly, very fast." He shook his head solemnly. "I never thought that I'd live to see the day when that weird-haired kook on TV was right."

Meg nodded her head, knowing that the admiral was referring to Dr. Tsoukalos who seemed to be of the opinion that aliens were the cause of every conspiracy under the sun.

 _ **Star Destroyer Dominance, somewhere outside the Sol System, interstellar space**_

"Commander Relan, have you inspected the probe?" Admiral Kell asked as he peered over the shell of the deep-space probe.

"Yes, sir. It appears that there were two gold discs with etchings inscribed on them. We have no idea as to what sort of etchings were on there as it appears to be a rather primitive language, but it did show that the aliens of that planet from which the probe originated from appear to be similar in physiology to us." Commander Relan replied as he casually scratched his high olive-drab collar of his uniform.

"I suggest that you find some way to decipher the etchings and provide me with a full-report, Commander, or the Emperor will be very displeased. He is wanting to find new worlds from which will give us enough resources to defeat the Rebel Alliance. The vast fleet is not enough as the Rebels are using hit and run tactics in order to subvert our dominance over the sector. Is that clear, Commander." Admiral Kell was not desirous to use threats but occasionally, unless prodded, the Imperial Navy required such tactics to encourage cooperation from its members. Commander Relan paled as the implied threat sank in. "…and though Lord Vader is more than tied up with locating Skywalker, I believe that he would be quite willing to visit the Unknown Regions to increase morale with the assurances that the Emperor is not ignoring our Fleet."

"Why was I not informed of this?" The ringing voice questioning them startled both Kell and Relan as they looked to see a dark-robed man approach. Shivers went down the spine of the two Imperial officers as they viewed the yellow and red-rimmed eyes that met their gaze.

"Inquisitor Malic"

"Where there is a world, there are those who are Force-Strong." The dark undertones of the Sith Inquisitor chilled the two officers to the bone. "The Emperor wishes that there is to be no one left alive who can pose a threat to his reign." He raised a hand subtly to Commander Relan who felt subtle unseen claws against his trachea. "Commander, as the Admiral has said, you will find out from where this craft has come or you will answer to me. I do not condone failure." Commander Relan slumped, panting heavily as the unseen claws released him, his eyes, full of fear, gazing up at the Sith Inquisitor. "I suggest that you get started." Relan did not bother wasting time in responding but started scanning the probe with his handheld scanner.

The Sith Inquisitor in response whirled around, his dark robes flowing behind him and stalked out of the cargo bay.

 _ **The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC. 0930hrs**_

"President McLean. Chief of Joint Chiefs of Staff here to see you." The White House aide informed President Randal Evans McLean." who had succeeded the previous President. A Democrat, President McLean had won a narrow election against a widely popular Republican, formerly a businessman who was seeking a second term in the White House, but the American people had come to their senses and decided that one term was enough.

"Admiral Nakamura, VADMs Rabb, how are you?" President McLean turned to the Asian-American four-star admiral who walked into the Oval Office accompanied by two tall vice-admirals, a male and female.

"Sir. We have a situation." The four word sentence chilled McLean to the bone. _We have a situation_ was code for the shit is hitting the fan.

He sat down in his chair; intertwined the fingers of his left hand in his right and asked solemnly. "What exactly is the situation?" He was not going to like what he heard next.

"NASA lost all communications with Voyager One. There were no transmissions that indicated a collision with an object. The scientists are stating that the signals just cut off as if the probe was turned off completely. No communication with the probe has been re-established. If it is what we are thinking, this is going to turn into a nasty situation." The CJCS stated.

"In that regards, sir." The female vice-admiral said. "We can only assume that there is something out there that has picked up the probe and is examining it or they are headed in our direction." Well, that was direct as both male admirals looked over at the female admiral. Subtlety was not Meg's strong suit.

"How many weeks do we have?" President McLean asked, twisting his fingers as he contemplated what could potentially be the ruin of his presidency. If he did nothing then he would be known as the President who allowed extra-terrestrials control of the entire planet. There were some days that it didn't pay to be the Leader of the Free World.

 _ **Emperor's Throne Room, Coruscant, 2 years after the Battle of Yavin**_

"My Hand, I have been in communication with Inquisitor Malic." The Emperor gazed upon Mara Jade with calculating eyes as he tapped his gnarled cane on the floor of the throne room. He paused for a long moment before he continued, his voice reedy yet threatening. "He says that he has picked up a probe from an unknown planet. You are to meet with him in the Unknown Regions aboard the Dominance and find out more information from him. Then you will seek out this planet and find out more about it. They will wait for you just outside of the Sol System. Admiral Kell was at least that useful." He fastened his yellow eyed gaze on Mara, "Mara, find out what is there…and report back to me."

"Your Will is my command." Mara knelt down on one knee in front of her Master.

"Very good…my Hand." A cackle broke from his twisted lips as Mara bowed and retreated from his throne room.

 _ **Rebel Headquarters, Garqi Seven, Garqi System, Outer Rim.**_

Mon Mothma looked at Leia Organa. "Alliance Intelligence has indicated that the Imperials have launched a fleet into the Unknown Regions. Our agents don't know exactly what the Imperials are looking for, but if they find something there, we need to find out how it will affect us. But the Alliance doesn't have enough ships to explore the Unknown Regions."

Leia knew exactly what the leader of the Alliance was asking her to do and what irritated Leia was that she never would approach her directly and outright ask her; she would hint around the topic and Leia would have to offer. Mon Mothma wanted Han and Chewie to go out there and find out what was going on and if he was going, Leia was going, for kriff sake and so would Luke.

"We need resources." Mon Mothma said. "And with the Empire's recent push against us on all fronts, we are sorely lacking for resources. Every ship that we have in the Alliance Fleet is on patrol searching for the Empire's recon units and we can't spare an exploration ship at all."

"I'll ask Han, but I can't guarantee anything."

"Well…if that is all that you can do." Mon Mothma sighed, running a hand through her ginger hair. It seemed as though she had aged from her time as a senator with the stress of running a Rebellion and being a wanted traitor against the Empire. Leia excused herself from Mon Mothma's presence and retreated to go find Han.

 _ **Millenium Falcon, Hangar Bay aboard Home One.**_

"Are they kidding me?" Han asked incredulously, throwing up his hands in frustration. "She wants me to risk my ship flying out into uncharted territory?"

"It's not uncharted, We just follow the trail that the Imperials left us." Leia tried to explain it to Han who snorted sarcastically.

"Oh…so we're going to follow the Imps?" Han wanted to throw a hydrospanner at something but resisted the urge "Listen Princess, what the hell happens if they decide that they're going to backtrack and we run straight into them with the Falcon. I don't know about you, but I'm not planning on spending the rest of my life doing hard time in the Spice Mines of Kessel."

"No…they'll probably just execute you." Leia snarked back at him.

"Oh, great, even better." Han said then waved to Chewie who was trying to fix something that had jostled loose on the Falcon. "Hey, Furball, come down here and explain to her Highnessness that we'd be better off asking Jabba the Hutt for resources than following the Imps on some quirky journey to the Unknown Regions and getting lost or even worse getting captured by the Imps." He threw a mocking look back at Leia.

"Hey, Han, need some help?" Luke inquired cheerfully.

"Yeah, Princess over here is giving me a headache. You mind diverting her attention for a bit while I help this Fuzzball get these inertial dampers secured?" Han said as Chewie roared an insult back at Han with great volume and gave him what appeared to be a Wookiee hand gesture that roughly translated to _Go kriff yourself_. "And…no…I'm not planning on doing this at all…" he pointed at Leia.

"So, what am I going to tell Mon if the Imps show up with more ships and resources and overwhelm us. That the Great Han Solo wasn't about to risk his ship so that we can find more allies to help us win this war faster?" Leia's voice was rising and Luke's eyes widened.

"Uh?" Luke asked, unsure if he was going to get his head bit off. "Where were you asking Han to go?" Leia turned around to fixate Luke with a gimlet stare which made Luke shut up.

"The Imperials are sending a fleet of six Star Destroyers to the Unknown Regions." Leia replied. "Mon Mothma can't spare any ships at the moment and she wants us to follow their trail to find out just what they're up to."

"She's crazy." Han volunteered helpfully which earned him a withering stare from Leia. "How long does she expect us to live on the Falcon. And if we go out into the Unknown Regions and beyond; how are we supposed to stock enough food for the trip if we aren't able to find a planet to replenish rations?" Han grumbled, "Damned politicians...they never think of the rational logistical...OW!" Han yelled in pain.

"Uh...sorry about that..." Leia smirked as a hydrospanner clattered to the ground away from Solo's foot.

"Well if we did do this..." Luke stated..."maybe we could find a new home...away from the Empire and the war; a refuge..." Constant fighting was wearing on him and he was wanting to find someplace where he could rest before throwing himself back into the fight.

Leia retorted acidly, "You're not thinking of abandoning the Alliance, are you?"

"No!" Luke said vehemently, "but this mission could be just the break we're looking for. In that it will give us a chance to explore rather than be constantly looking over our shoulder being chased by the Empire." He paused giving her a war-weary look. "I just need some time away from the constant battles; that's all..." He looked at the ground shuffling his feet, his face drawn with exhaustion. "I think we should do this for the Alliance. Maybe we will find resources."

Chewie growled loudly nodding his head and clapping Han on the back gesturing at Leia and Luke in an inclusive gesture.

"Oh alright but the next time the Kid lands in a nest of gundarks. I won't be the one pulling him out!" Han grumbled. "And you, fuzzball," he said pointing at Chewie, "...get the kriffing inertial dampers on right while I go scrounge up some supplies! I don't want to end up a smear when I come out of hyperspace in the Sol System." He shot both Leia and Luke a dark stare as he turned to walk out the hangar bay doors. Throwing a last invective over his shoulder, "And I'm about to give Mon a piece of my mind. Does that woman know we're going to spend a hundred twenty days in hyperspace just to catch up to the Imps?" Han's voice was still audible even as he disappeared down the corridor. Evidently he didn't get far as Luke winced.

"Oh oh thank the Maker, I found you, Captain Solo!" Threepio's querulous voice was heard emanating from the corridor, "I overheard that you, the Princess and Master Luke were going on a trip? You will most certainly need Artoo and myself on the trip. After all I am fluent in over six million forms of communication of sentient beings..." A steady stream of fading Huttese swear words cut off Threepio mid-sentence, accompanying the rest of Han's travel down the corridor. Leia and Luke looked at each other. This was going to be a fun trip. That was if only Luke could keep Han from ejecting Threepio out the Falcon's airlock while in hyperspace.

 _ **The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC. 1000hrs**_

Pres. McLean nodded as the news grew even more grave. "We have no idea what the aliens would want on our planet let alone what technological capabilities they have, Mr. President." Meg stated gauging the president's reaction. "As far as we know; there are two extremes: either they come in peace or they annihilate us."

"We don't know what kinds of weapons they'll hit us with if they prove to be hostile. If they hit us with energy weapons, we're toast." Animal winced as Harm interjected. "It's going to be a losing battle if they initiate hostilities."

"Is there no means of defense?" Pres. McLean asked.

"Pray that they're not hostile...Mr. President..." Animal said. "Until we have some idea of the type of weapons we're dealing with, we have absolutely no idea." There was no way to determine where the aliens were located as there were no means to scan the planets farther out in their solar system let alone any of the near planets. In effect they were planted on this earth blind, deaf and dumb to the goings on in the rest of the universe, mainly in terms of distances of communication. And with the arrival of an extra-galactic intruder into the solar system; that wasn't a great situation to be in.

It seemed as though President McLean was about to hyperventilate but after two deep breaths, he said; "so...Admiral Nakamura; what's your recommendation?"

"Prepare Operation Pinnacle, Mr. President .and keep your finger close to the launch button. But don't launch unless it's a last-ditch attempt to minimize losses; whatever we can do to prevent ourselves from utter annihilation."

"God save us all..." President McLean uttered. There were no other words to express what they all felt.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Mara's Ship; embarking on trip to Sol System.**_

Mara's facial feature were set in a grim unsmiling look as she perused the datapad that was displaying information about the Sol system that Admiral Kell had transmitted over after firing off a probe droid to reconnoiter the system. _It appears to be an eight planet system with a series of dwarf planets and there doesn't seem to be much life at all. That's interesting. The only life that seems to be there is the third planet from the sun judging from the transmissions from the planet. I wonder if Kell has been aware of that fact or whether he's choosing to hide that information. The reveal should be very interesting._ Mara looked over at the wall of hidden weapons in her ship's cabin. As always she would go armed. She had just entered hyperspace not more than a few hours ago; commanding her droid to monitor the ship and retired to her cabin to run over the parameters of her mission. Mara Jade, the Emperor's Hand was thorough; leaving nothing to chance. Carelessness in a mission was a sure way to get dead.

 _Ship goes point four past lightspeed. This would mean spending the equivalent of five months on board ship. I have enough rations on-board to maintain a jump of two weeks leaving enough for an emergency surplus of another week. If I drop out of hyperspace I can figure out where a habitable planet is; I can manage to replenish my stocks somewhere. But this would have been easier with a fully stocked and manned Star Destroyer._ Mara twisted her lips into a smirk. _But I've dealt with worse. Having to deal with Black Sun operatives who reported to the now late Xizor. His successor is probably having to put out a new employment advertisement to replace the agents that I removed._ Lord Vader had blown Xizor out of mid-air as the Falleen had tried to flee, but Mara would have loved to have been able to slide her knife into Xizor's heart. Having studied Falleen physiology; she knew exactly where to stab a Falleen to kill them. Mara looked over at the wall as she contemplated the journey ahead.

 _No, it wasn't going to be easy_ she came to the realization but Mara had been trained well enough in the native fauna and flora of planets to distinguish between edible and non-edible. If the natives touched it so would she. If not she would leave it alone. Then the food synthesizer would do the rest.

It was going to be a long one hundred and fifty days in transit plus a few more days to replenish stocks enroute.

 _ **Millennium Falcon, Onboard Home One.**_

"Chewie! Are the cargo holds full of rations? Section the temperature controls and make sure that everything is refrigerated. I'm not stopping to replenish for a month." Han indicated to his Wookiee co-pilot. "The sooner I make it to this damned place we're going to; the sooner I can make it back to pay Jabba. I told Mon I expected to be paid well for this side-trip. I didn't sign up for this."

Chewbacca gave him a questioning look canting his shaggy head and growled softly in Shryiiwook.

"No. You wanted me to help save the Kid when he went on that blasted glory-mission of his. I was the one not wanting to stick around to get atomized by the Death Star. You got your wires crossed!" Han protested walking away towards the cockpit. "Her Highness better get here soon or I'm just gonna leave her here."

Chewie gave him as expressive a derisive hoot and went back to putting stores in the cargo hold. Looking up again, he heard light footsteps approach and he looked up to see the young farm boy from Tatooine. Chewie thought he saw more fatigue in the face of young Luke and growled softly in greeting.

"Have you seen Han?" Chewie woofed softly in reply and pointed towards the cockpit.

"Thanks Chewie." Luke said as the Wookiee turned back to his task of loading foodstuffs into their cargo holds, and he made his way to the cockpit.

"Hey kid." Han replied, seemingly engrossed in doing preflight checks on the Falcon. "I hope the Princess gets here because we raise ship in two hours. Otherwise, I'm leaving her behind. You packed and got your stuff aboard?" He asked.

Luke shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't carry much except for my data pad and my lightsaber. That and perhaps a blaster or two. It's not like we're going to need much other than what the Falcon provides."

"We're spending four months in hyperspace just to reach our destination. Kid. Your data pad got enough on there to while away the time?" Han smirked, needling his young friend, "I don't need you going absolutely bonkers with space madness because you don't have anything to do." Luke rolled his eyes. Han loved nothing more but to needle Luke with sarcasm. Luke on the other hand thought of Han as an irritating older brother.

"There's always meditation." Luke offered.

"I got enough things to do without joining in aspects of your hokey religion." Han rejoindered.

"Chewie! How's the loading?"

Chewie's furry wrowled a gruff reply as he closed up the last hatch to the Falcon's cargo hold.

Han turned to Luke. "Since you got all you need on your person..." indicating Luke's lightsaber hanging off his utility belt, "Mind notifying her Highness before she brings half her wardrobe and belongings with her."

At this Luke turned to see Leia walking through the Falcon's main corridor with a smug impression. "Well, Han; I compressed my wardrobe into a compact carry-case that I believe should fit nicely under the table in one of the crew cabins. And other than a datapad containing the latest from Alliance Intelligence, I don't appear to be bringing anything else." She smirked, "oh. Other than my favorite blaster." Leia was dressed in pants and a loose feminine shirt with a blaster belt across her hip as Han gaped at her less-than formal attire. "Besides I'm dressing for exploration, not a High Command meeting." She informed him primly.

"Well...uh...I've got clearance to raise ship in two hours so if you haven't got anything else to do then make yourselves at home." Han smirked at Leia; who just rolled her eyes. "I'm just gonna go deal with a few last minute items with Chewie." He gave Leia a mock bow which irritated Leia along with a obsequious "by your leave; your Highness?" He said as he left the cockpit.

"Four months in space with him is going to drive me stark-raving mad..." Leia grumbled.

 _ **Pentagon; Washington DC. 0645 hrs EST (next day), 2016**_

"Morning, sir." Command Master Chief Leon Trebalos said as Animal walked into the Chief of Naval Operations. The command master had been with Animal from the time Animal was a squadron commander with the VF-41 Black Aces. "Admiral, your wife called to let you know that she may be working late tonight."

Vice-Admiral Liandra Gracen-Nakamura was the Judge Advocate General of the United States Navy who had taken over command from Vice-Admiral Amy Helfman. Vice-Admiral Helfman had taken over command from Vice-Admiral Stiles Morris and from the previous JAG Lieutenant General Gordon M. Cresswell, USMC who was the successor to RADM Albert Jethro Chegwidden. It was during Cresswell's tenure that the office of the Judge Advocate General of the United States Navy became a three-star command rather than a two-star command. It was a boost for Lia's career and Animal appreciated the fact even more that the recommendation came from someone else other than himself. He didn't want to be accused of nepotism, which wasn't looked upon very highly in the Navy. Lia had earned every stripe and star that she wore.

"Good morning, sir! Ma'am" CMCYN Trebalos' greeting startled Animal into looking around from unlocking the door. Vice-Admiral Harmon Rabb Jr, his Chief of Staff, had followed him into the office accompanied by his wife, Vice-Admiral Meg Austin-Rabb. Seeing the expressions on their faces as they acknowledged his Command Master Chief's greeting, Animal asked them to step into his office.

"Is this matter private?" he asked once he had shut the door behind him.

"Yes, sir." VADM Rabbs (plural) chorused.

"Sit down…" Animal said solemnly. "So what have you got for me?"

"We checked with NASA" Meg replied. "No response from the probe. Whatever is out there is still out there holding it and I asked the Jet Propulsion Labs, but there is no way for us to send a satellite. In fact at our current speed of space propulsion, we're looking at thirteen years before another satellite would even make it out past Pluto and interstellar space where Voyager One was picked up was even more distant and would take more time. So, there is no way with our current technology to even fathom making contact. We're waiting for them to make contact with us, sir."

Animal nodded soberly. "I thought that might be the case. What do you think? Harm."

"Sir, I think you made the right decision in implementing Operation Pinnacle and COG, sir. If the aliens are hostile then we stand a very small chance of fighting back. Our only option is to hide and hope that we're not wiped off the face of the earth."

"What about the rest of the population?" Animal asked.

The three of them passed sobering looks. They knew without saying that the government figured that the rest of the population was expendable.

"In the 1950s and 60s, nuclear war was a very imminent possibility with Khrushchev and the arms race; the race to build bigger and bigger bombs." Animal said sombrely as he steepled his fingers casually looking around the room, then sighed. "Now we're fearing alien invasion and our nuclear weapons stockpile has to be considered as a last ditch defense." Because of the classification of this information, Animal was unable to talk about this to his own wife. She was in the dark as much as the rest of the populace. And that worried Animal; a lot.

Harm knew that he was much luckier than the CNO in that he was able to discuss this quietly with his wife as she was the one with most of the intel that existed on this matter. She was the one that communicated directly with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California that kept tabs on the Voyager space probes.

 _ **Seti Institute; Mountain View, CA, 0425 hrs PST 2016**_

Dr. Hamilton Browning, PhD, Astrophysics/Astronomy, looked at the monitors monitoring radio-waves. "Come here, Mary. I've got anomalies in the exit sector that Voyager One took. There's radio-waves where there shouldn't be, but it's at a frequency that we haven't seen before. It's beyond ultrahigh frequency."

Dr. Mary Pinnock looked at her colleague and asked, "Can we extrapolate the data, triangulate it and figure out where it's coming from. I just got a call from the Chief of Naval Intelligence demanding answers and she was not happy when I couldn't give her any at the moment. So get me figures and try and determine where that radiowave anomaly is coming from."

 _ **Millennium Falcon, Onboard Home One**_

"Well, time to raise ship." Han declared as he pulled up the levers making the Millenium Falcon hover. Leia smirked at him.

"So, you think this bucket of bolts will hold together." Han gave her a sour look in reply.

"I hope to the nine Corellian hells so." He growled acidly. "If Chewie calibrated the inertial dampers right, we should be able to enter hyperspace as soon as we clear the fleet." Chewie howled a protest and aimed a nasty look at Han. "Yeah, yeah, I know. You've been working on the Falcon for years."

Chewie gave him another long-winded growl n' howl.

"What do you mean, _it's my fault that_ _every time I tinker with the Falcon something gets broken_?" Han said as he guided the Falcon out into space away from the fleet.

A crackle of the radio and Mon Mothma's voice came through it, "Thank you, Captain Solo, for undertaking this mission."

"It's not for your Alliance, Mon Mothma." Han retorted back. "I expect to be paid handsomely for this."

"I understand, Captain Solo." Mon Mothma replied, humor in her voice. "May the Force Be With You, Captain Solo, Leia…Lieutenant Skywalker." And cut the transmission.

"Hmmph…maybe I can recoup something of trade value. That way Jabba will let me keep my head when I get back." Han grumped sourly. "Strap yourselves in, we're making the jump to lightspeed." He said as the navicomputer beeped denoting that the calculations for the jump were put in. "Next time we drop out of lightspeed, we're going to be a month into our journey and then searching for a habitable planet for food."

"Do we even know where we're going?" asked Luke as he looked uncomfortably as Han threw the hyperdrive control lever and the stars outside the cockpit windows elongated.

"I don't know. It's a shot in the dark, Kid." Han retorted. "Well, at least we're in one piece and we know that the inertial dampers work. The Falcon's a good ship, Kid, but even I don't know how she'll hold up for a trip through the Unknown Regions and we're going into intergalactic space…and we don't have any maps for that."

 _ **Onboard the Imperial Super Star Destroyer Executor**_

"Lord Vader, the Emperor wishes to speak with you." The fear evident in his visage, Admiral Ozzel indicated to the Dark Lord of the Sith standing in front of him, tense and impatient. "He wishes you to contact him immediately."

"I know the terms of my employ with the Emperor, Admiral." The deep vocoder rumbled as Vader turned his mask towards him and leaned in threateningly. "I trust you understand the terms of yours."

"Yes, Lord Vader." Ozzel was chastised and made himself scarce. Incurring the wrath of the Dark Lord would terminate his life and Ozzel was treading thin ice as it was. Vader whirled and left the bridge, his dark cloak spreading behind him.

Vader stalked through the halls of the Super Star Destroyer headed towards the holoprojector pod room. When he arrived, he stood on the projector, and knelt down on one knee, "By your Command…"

The shrivelled blue-tinged shimmering image of the Emperor shimmered in front of him as the holoprojector shone an image in mid-air. "Lord Vader…" The Emperor's cracking, sinister voice. "There has been stirrings in the Force. I have felt it. They are emanating from a planet in the Sol system."

"Are there Jedi? My Master." Any mention of Force-strong individuals could only mean Jedi or sentient beings with latent Force abilities and if there was one thing that Vader sought to do; it was to eradicate all Jedi or potential Jedi that he ran across.

"Lord Vader…Seek out the third planet in the system and find those latent in the Force." The yellow eyes of his Master froze Vader in place. "Kill…them…all."

"Yes, My Master."

"You will meet up with the Dominance in the Sol System."

"My Master, it will take me eight months to get to the Sol System." Vader said fearing reprisal from the Emperor, but the Emperor did not react.

"Lord Vader…Time does not matter. You will make contact with the Dominance and find out what I need to know." The Emperor gazed balefully at Vader and continued. "You will then proceed to the third planet in the system, and carry out my orders."

"Yes, My Master…"

 _ **Mara's Ship; embarking on trip to Sol System.**_

 _:Mara Jade…I have need to contact you…:_ Emperor Palpatine's voice rang through Mara's head interrupting her musings.

 _:Yes, My Master…_ :

 _:Lord Vader is on his way to the Sol System.:_ Emperor Palpatine communicated a task to her. _:I have a task for you. You will seek out Inquisitor Malic. He is a threat to my plans. You will eliminate him when you get to the Dominance. Seek him out and destroy him. Then you will proceed to the third planet. There are individuals there that are strong in the Force. Seek them out before Vader does and bring six to me. They will form the core of my new Inquisitors.:_

Mara looked puzzled and communicated so to her Master.

 _:Mara Jade, do not question me.:_ There was an increase in pressure in her head which felt painful and Mara knelt to the ground in considerable pain. _:It could be mistaken for disloyalty. Also there is a new development. The Rebels have sent a ship to follow us into the Unknown Regions…:_

 _:Do you wish me to hinder their attempts during their journey?:_

 _:No, my Hand. I wish for you to wait for them. Young Skywalker is with them. I wish for you to find him as well and bring him to me.:_ The Emperor intoned. _:Everything is going as planned.:_ Releasing Mara Jade from the pressure on her head, _:Carry out my Command. Mara Jade, my Hand.:_ the Emperor said finally and cut the connection. Mara collapsed to the ground for a long moment before she was able to rise.

"I'm definitely going to need my lightsaber…" she said to no-one in particular as she gazed around her personal cabin of her ship. She decided to keep the Emperor's Command in the back of her mind as she wondered if the Emperor's communication was limited in its distance to the known galaxy and keeping it there would mollify the Emperor that she was going to carry out his command as soon as she got to the Dominance. She shook her head; _What did he think I was? A Jedi Master? To carry out his command of seeking out Force Sensitives, I would have to locate them before Vader eliminated them. And to ask me to do a task at cross-purposes with Vader's could potentially get me killed. Vader would assume that I was a traitor._ Mara thought to herself. _I'll just have to be careful._

She decided to look through her weapons locker and figure out exactly what she was going to take onto the Dominance with her. A brief scan of the locker had her take out a Maxxar-Arms HP-031 holdout pistol. Maxxar Arms was a competitor of Merr-Sonn Arms, but Maxxar was a higher quality arms manufacturer out of the Corporate Sector. The HP-031 fit in the palm of her hand and was concealable in a wrist holster and it had enough Tibanna gas to fire off twenty shots, just enough to get her out of a nasty situation if necessary to resort to it. For actual return fire, she had a Blastech DL-44. She also had the purple-bladed lightsaber that Palpatine had given her and a variety of weapons too vast to list. She had the necessary skills and tools to maintenance all the weapons that she had in her weapons locker so that they would be in top shape. She had droids on her cargo ship including K-3 to fly the ship and several maintenance droids to upkeep the ship. That was all the crew that Mara Jade needed.

She was a loner and preferred to be that way. She had never been social and the extensive assassin training that she had undergone throughout her child-hood had honed her into a finely crafted blade that Palpatine made use of when he needed an execution of a traitor done quickly, quietly and with the least amount of political fallout.

She ran her gaze upon some of the V-1 thermal detonators that lined one of the cupboards of her closet. They ranged in yield from small detonation to timed fusion nuclear explosive. Baradium 250 was a reactive isotope that yielded high radiation and fissile qualities; in short, small sphere…big boom. Of course if Lord Vader was to see the damage that one of those would inflict on a section of an Imperial class Star Destroyer, he would not be happy and he would make certain that Mara knew exactly what he thought of it.

 _ **Pentagon; Washington DC. 0800 hrs EST, 2016**_

Harm looked out the window of Animal's office as he, Animal and Meg pondered the problems inherent in this situation.

"Right now, as far as COGS and line of succession is concerned, the President and his family is being taken to the PEOC. But the problem is that we don't know just what we're dealing with." Animal stated, the stress evident in his face. "We're going to stay on the surface to monitor the situation minute by minute, but I want all forces to go to DEFCON2. Notify the President to tell the Russians that it is an external threat not originating from the Continental United States and I would advise him that the Russian leadership be notified of the imminent danger that the extraterrestrial contact could initiate."

"I agree, sir." Harm replied noting that the Russians should be informed so that they didn't see US forces going to DEFCON2 and initiate a strategic launch of their nuclear weapons as that would be catastrophic. The threat was extra-terrestrial in origin and they needed to band together as humans not as individual countries as the threat was towards all of them and not just a handful of nations.

"Sir, the President is on the phone…" Trebalos' voice emanated from the intercom. "He wants to notify you that you're in command of the entirety of the United States Armed Forces..."

"Sir?" Animal answered the phone when it started ringing. "Yes, sir?"

"Admiral Nakamura. I was in conference with members of Congress and we decided that you will take over command of our entire Armed Forces. We need strong leadership in the military during these times and we require you to lead our military in defence of the world." The President stated causing Animal's hair to rise on the back of his neck. "Admiral Nakamura, by Congressional edict in light of the extraordinary nature of these events that have arisen, I hereby am promoting you to the rank of Fleet Admiral and by extension assigning you to command of US Forces both sea, ground and air by virtue of your rank higher than any of your contemporaries."

"Aye, aye sir!" Animal replied.

"God save us all…Fleet Admiral." The President intoned solemnly. "I hope that we survive to see the end of these events."

"Yes, sir."

"Good luck, FADM Nakamura." The President said before cutting the phone conversation.

Animal looked up at the two officers in front of him. "Well…that created a major shit-storm." He muttered as he looked up at Meg and Harm.

"What happened, sir?" Meg asked.

"POTUS wanted me to command the entire military." Animal said simply, then got Trebalos on the phone. "Can you send Chief Bradic to the exchange. I'll call them before hand. I'm going to need a new coat and some new insignia." He sighed heavily. "Then we really have to get to work.

 _ **Seti Institute; Mountain View, CA, 0500 hrs PST 2016**_

"Yes, ma'am…they're coming from fifty thousand light years away from Pluto, ma'am. That's where we've managed to triangulate the signals."

"So…what does that give us…in terms of preparation time?"

"They're holding position, right now. Ma'am." Dr. Pinnock indicated as she looked at the screen. "I believe they're assessing the reaction. They may have long-range radar far in advance of ours." She paused for a long moment. "If they do move, we have roughly about four days to prepare…and all indications point to their technology being far advanced of ours. There is a good indication that they've mastered light-speed."

"…all indications…point to superior technology…" was the surprised tone of the naval officer on the other end of the line.

"Yes, ma'am." Dr. Pinnock replied, her voice shaking. "I don't think we have a chance if they have aggressive intentions."

 _ **Pentagon; Washington DC. 0805 hrs EST, 2016**_

Meg had a pale shaking countenance as she got off the phone with the doctor at SETI.

"What is it? Meg?" Harm asked, concerned.

"If…the aliens mean business…" she paused for a long moment to gaze at both Animal and Harm who looked at each other, the air tense with nervous anticipation…

"What?" Animal prompted.

"Sir…if they're coming over with intent to take us over…" she said. "We're doomed."


End file.
